ESPN and ESPN2’s broadcast of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships this year was always going to be an uphill slog, and with ratings down 20 percent from last year through the quarterfinals stage last week, according to the sports network, that pessimism proved well placed.
The Open closely followed the Summer Olympics, and missing were top draws Roger Federer, who was injured, and Maria Sharapova, serving a doping suspension. Serena Williams last year pursued a calendar year Grand Slam, and many of the night matches this year proved less than scintillating.
ESPN offered another explanation too: The presidential race is driving viewers to political shows. Tennis audiences skew older, and they are more interested in politics than other age groups, ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle said.
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Rafael Nadal lost in the fourth round and other stars were no-shows, hurting ESPN.
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This year’s Open is the second of an 11-year, $825 million deal that ESPN struck with the Open in 2013 to cover the event first ball to last. So the sports media giant takes the long view. Speaking last week, Nagle emphasized that the semis and finals, which had yet to be played by press time, could still deliver. Nevertheless, declining ratings in year two of a partnership the Open struck in part to draw in more casual sports fans can’t be comforting.
■ BRANCHING OUT: Topnotch Management signed its first non-tennis client, golfer Fred Wedel. Topnotch is owned by former Lagardère agent Sam Duvall (brother of Cincinnati Reds slugger Adam Duvall) and Grand Slam Tours, a hospitality company specializing in major tennis events.
Topnotch represents Steve Johnson and John Isner, two of the highest-ranked American men, and recently brought on Meilen Tu, another former Lagardère agent.
■ EMBRACING VR: Wimbledon is expecting Facebook to launch in virtual reality by next year’s tourney, and so the event is already thinking about how to craft content for such a site, said Alexandra Willis, head of communications, content and digital at The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Ltd.
The club has for some time now been a trendsetter among the Slams in embracing social media and digital content. Now VR may be the next element on the horizon.
It was incorporated to a small extent this past year on-site at the Wimbledon museum during the event, but the club’s embrace of the technology appears ready to grow.
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Stan Wawrinka is a client of boutique agency StarWing.
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■ RISE OF BOUTIQUE: The men’s semifinalists underscore fascinating developments in the tennis agent business: the growing dominance of WME-IMG and the rise of boutique agencies, in this case StarWing Sports. Each semifinal pitted a StarWing client against one from IMG.
Novak Djokovic (IMG) played
Gael Monfils, and
Kei Nishikori (IMG) played
Stan Wawrinka.
“Tiny boutique agency fighting the big boys,” said Lawrence Frankopan, founder and CEO of London-based StarWing. “IMG [is] so dominant and piles so much money into this business, so we are very proud of this milestone.”
Frankopan did not come to New York because he and his wife had their first child, a daughter, on Sept. 5. He did plan a quick trip for the final if Wawrinka made it.
Monfils’ StarWing agent, Nico Lamperin, was in New York for the event.
■ HEALTH TECH: The Open struck a deal with Mount Sinai Health Systems to use more high-tech medical imaging to better coordinate athletes’ treatments. Previously, when an athlete went for a scan at Mount Sinai in Manhattan, a CD had to be physically taken back to the tennis center to coordinate decisions on whether the player could return. Now that information comes through digitally.
“The technology has been used dozens of times so far,” a hospital spokeswoman said. Mount Sinai has been the Open’s health care provider for the past four tournaments.
